Whelanlong Roe Memorandum Abortion

MEMORANDUM TO:

Leaders of Pro-Life, Pro-Family, and Judicial Restraint Groups

FROM:

Wendy Long, Judicial Confirmation Network Ed Whelan, Ethics and Public Policy Center

DATE:

May 14, 2007

SUBJECT:

Nationwide Education Campaign on Roe v. Wade

Now is the time for a fact-driven discussion about Roe v. Wade. We need your help to launch an immediate nationwide education campaign about Roe v. Wade: what it has really done to the law for the past 34 years, and what overturning it will mean. For three decades, the abortion industry and other advocates of abortion have misled the public and misrepresented what most Americans really believe about abortion. To lay the groundwork, the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Judicial Confirmation Network recently commissioned the highly respected national public-affairs research firm Ayres, McHenry & Associates to conduct a national survey of registered voters on abortion issues. We just got the results. They are both revealing and encouraging. The survey first asked participants whether they would like the Supreme Court to overturn its Roe v. Wade ruling. It then asked them whether they believed that abortion should be legal or illegal in each of twelve circumstances. The surveyor then briefly informed the participants (1) that Roe prohibits states from restricting abortion during the first six months of pregnancy in any of those circumstances, and (2) that if Roe were overturned states could make abortion policies that would permit abortion for some reasons and bar it for others. Participants were then asked again whether they would like the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. With even this brief education about what Roe really means, public opinion on overturning Roe swung a full 16 points in the direction favoring the reversal of Roe: from 55 to 34 percent against overturning Roe to 48 to 43 percent against. In the face of more than three decades of media misrepresentation about what Roe means and what overturning it would mean, this swing is very striking. Compared to the brief comments of an anonymous surveyor, consider what a sustained public education campaign on these matters could achieve. (It's also worth noting that the survey understated how radical the Roe regime is, as the surveyors avoided the complication of explaining that the "health" exception is so expansive that abortion is, for all practical purposes, available for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy.)

Here are some other highlights: 1. Republicans initially favored the overturning of Roe by 60 to 32 percent. By the end of the survey, that already whopping margin had increased to 67 to 29 percent. 2. The swing among Democratic voters was especially marked: 26 points in the direction of favoring a reversal of Roe. 3. Voters in red states (Democrats, Republicans, and Independents) initially opposed the overturning of Roe by 50 to 39 percent. By the end of the survey, they favored the overturning of Roe by 47 to 44 percent. 4. A substantial majority of Americans – well in excess of 60 % – believe that abortion should be illegal in the very circumstances that actually account for well over 90 % of this country's abortions. For all who care about pro-family and pro-life issues, as well as the proper role of the Supreme Court in our system of government, it is imperative that the American people understand how extreme Roe really is. It is equally imperative that they learn that the reversal of Roe would merely restore to the American people their ability to make abortion policies through their elected representatives, instead of having abortion law made by unelected judges. We believe this is the perfect moment – in the wake of the Gonzales v. Carhart partialbirth abortion decision, and while the abortion issue is center stage in the presidential campaign – to implement a comprehensive national education campaign about Roe. To that end, we would like to invite you to join a call of national pro-life, pro-family, and judicial restraint leaders. Details of that call will follow.